Robert a



R. A. OHESEBROUGH. METHOD OF AERIAL TRANSIT.

No. 99.406. Patented Feb. 1, 1870.

waitetstcs ROBERT A. GHESEBROUGH, or NEW YORK; N. Y.

Letters Patent No. 99,406,"datod February 1, 1870; nntcdotod January 24, 1870.

IIQIPROVEID METHOD OF ERIAL TRANSIT.

The Bchedtde referred to in those Letters Patent and making pm of the same Tawhom it may concern Be it known that I, ROBERT A. Gnnsnnnouomof the city, county, and State of New York, have invented.

a new and useful Method of Atrial Transit; and I,

'this specification.

The purpose of this invention is to supply the means of rapid transit across rivers, or from place to place on. the land, for passengers, express matter, and the mails, and the method of accomplishing this purpose is by stretchinga cable from one tower, or high building, across the river or land it is desired to cross, to another building or tower,of equal height, at the other end of the route. The ends of this cable are not fastened at equal distances from the tops of both towers, but one end of'the cable is fastened at or near the top of one tower, and the otherend of the cable at a point considerably below the top of the other tower, so that the cable presents a decided incline along almost itsentire length. Alightcar or coach being suspended by wheels from thc'cable, and starting from the first tower, will run down the inclined cable to the other tower by its own gravity. A second cable is attached to the top 'of the second tower, and forms 'a similar incline, connecting with the first tower, by which the car may return, thus establishing continuity of travel. The car, on arrival, is detached from thefoot of the first incline,

and elevated to the summit of the return incline, and

there attached to the second cable.

Narrow streams or rive-1s have heretoforebeen crossed by means of a basket or light car suspended from a cable, the said our being drawn across, from bank to bank of the stream, by means of a rope and Windlass, but my improvement difieis essentially from this, inasmuch as my cables are inclined and my coaches run by their own gravity, traotion-ropesbeing entirely dispensed with, and the amount of. height lost in the dccline is compensated by elevating the coach, on arrival, an equal distance to the head of the return incline.

The principle applied in this improvement is the some as that described in my patent for an elevated railway, No. 79,952, dated July 14,1868.

Having thus explained the general character of my invention, the following brief description, with reference to the accompanying drawings, will show how the same is or may be carried into effect.

l igure 1 represents two towers on opposite banks of a river, from which two inclined cables are suspended.

Figure 2, aside view of a coach or car.

Figure 3, an end view of a coach or car.

We will suppose the two towers A to be each ore hundred and twenty feet in height, situated on the opposite banks, B, of a navigable river, 0, one quarter of a mile wide.

From these two towers, two cables, D and E, are stretched, the lowest point of each being, say, one 'huu dred feet above high-water mark, to enable vessels with high masts to pass thereunder.

At the tops of the towers, in the sides turned toward each other, are two openings or ports, F, G, H, and I, one being fifteen feet lower than the other, not being placed beneath it, but to one side, in order that the cars may freely pass without touching each other.

- The cable D issues out at the'top of the opening F, extends across the river, and enters the opening I in theopposite tower, thus forming a decline of fifteen feet in the quarter of a mile, without reference to the deflection of the cable.

The cable E. in the same manner connects the port H in one tower, with the port G in the other tower, thus forming a similar decline in reverse order. The ends of the cables are securely fastened in the interlors of the towers, after entering at the ports, allowing room below the tops of the ports to let the wheels of the coaches pass without touching. The ports are made sulliciently large to allow the coaches to enter.

and leave freely.

An elevator is placed in the top of each tower, to

convey the coaches from the lower ports to the upper ones. -Its position is on the inside of the tower, and is shown by the red lines at K.'

The operation is as follows:

A coach being attached to the cable E, inside the port H, runs out and down the decline over the river into the port G. It is then detached from the cable E, placed on the elevator, hoisted fifteen feet, attached to the cable D, issues from the port F, runs back over the river, and enters the port I, where it is again dotached and elevated, and so on.

Passengers enter the towers at the door, as shown in the drawing, and either walk up spiral staircases to where the coaches are situated, or may be elevated by elevators working up and down on the inside of the towers.

The towers may be substantially built ofeither wood, stone, or iron, and may be rendered more secure by being braced to the ground by iron rods, running in a direction opposite to that of the cables, thus relieving the tower of the side-strain on them caused by the weight of the cables and coaches.

The cables should be made of steel wire, of an inch or more in diameter, with the surface made perfectly even for the wheels to run upon.

The 'line that a suspended cable of this length would take, (one end being fifteen feet higher than the other,) would be such as to place the lowest point of deflection quite near the lower end of the cable.

For the sake of illustration, let us suppose the lowest. point of deflection on cable D to be at J, and twenty feet below its highest end; there will then be a descent of twenty feet for the car town-down, in which it will acquire speed enough to overcome the ascent of five feet-from the lowest point to port 1'.

If it shall bei'ound, in practice, that a dcscent'of tilLcen feet to a quarter of a mile is not sufficient, it may be made greater; or, if too much, it may be reduccd. No accurate rule can be here laid down, as I am not now prepared to state the least amountof de flection necessary to a cable of this length and character. The object will, of course, be to run the cables as nearly in-a straight line as may be, without adding strain to their actual weight. I

The coach or car is shown in fig. 2. It cons sts of a light iron box, N, suspended by strong iron bands, 0, from two wheels, P, deeply grooved,.which run on the cable as on a track/the weight of the car below the wheels serving to keep the wheels in an upright position on. the cable.

In order to attach and detach the car to and from the cable, the iron bands on one side of the car, just below the wheels, are provided with openings and covers'for the openings R, which have strong hinges at one end and fastenings at the other, so that they may be either opened or shut, and fastened securely. They are shown as shut in fig. 2, and as' open in jig. 3.

It willbe seen that to detach a car it has to he raised high enough to clear the wheels from the cable, and bring the cable on a levelwith the openings. By then undoing theihstenings and iaising the hinged covers H, the car can, by a side movement, be quickly detached from the cable: The red line in fig. 2,and-the rcd'dot in fig 3, show the cable and its position as regards the car.

Thecar is provided with brakes S S, to restrain its speed when hearing the tower, and finally stop it on arrival therein, and a. rope to operate-the brakes can be introduced into thecar.

The coaches can be made to contain from six to twenty passengers, or even more, the limit only being determined by the strengthof the cables and the stability of the towers.

As the mechanic, by observing the drawing, will readily understand the construction of'the car, and as the same may be. varied, it will not be necessary to enter upon a more detailed explanation.

The diameter of thewheels may vary from one to two i'eet. It is not necessary that the coaches should be placedimmcdiately beneath the wheels. They may be suspended therefrom by means of long iron rods,

allowing the coach to almost skim the water, while the wheel-truck runs onthe cable far overhead.

This mode of transit may be used on land, between place and place, and, .when.so used, the height of the towers may be much less than when crossing a narigable river, in fact, in some places and for some purposes'the'towers might not'necd to be over twenty feet high.

I do not limit myself to the distance between the towers, or to the number of towers, as it is plain that several may be placed at different points, and communicate with each other in the manner already herein shown; or a large central tower may be placed on a central positiomand several sets of cables may radiaw therei'romto various other, towers.

Instead of one cable being used, on which the car runs,- two cablcs'ma-y be substituted, running side by side. Each car willtlicn have. four wheels, two of which will run on each cable.

Instead of running the car onv the cables, two cables may be used to sustain an ordinary railroad-track, forming a. uniform or properly-graduatedincline the whole distance: In this case the two rails of the track are firmly-braced together, and rest on a system ot girders which form a comple te'frame-work, which should be fastened to the cables bymultitudinous steel wires,

thus forming a. roadway on which'small cars, of the ordinaiy pattern, may be run.

That the method of serial transit, herein shown, maybe made perfectly safe, scem's as undeniable as that long bridges, snstainin g enormous weight, are upheld by cables lrom towers on opposite banks of rirers.

I can see norcason why a cable might not be stretched over a river a mile wide, and operated satisiactorily,'ii' it can be made suiiicicntly strong, which can scarcely be doubted, and in this wa communication be main.- tained across wide rivers at a high speed;

What 1 claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A method of aerial transit composed of two c;\ bles, inclined in opposite direct-ions, arranged substantially as herein shown, on which coaches suspended therefrom may run in eitherdirection by their own vity.

2. The combination of the towers or buildings A, the inclined cables D and E, the elevatorsK, and the coach L, all operating substantially as described.

'ROBT. A. CHESEBROUGH.

Witnesses Orms. DRAKE, WM. H. Onssnnaoooa. 

